Committee to revamp Paris Land Use Ordinance

PARIS — Selectmen on Monday evening reappointed members to the Land Use Committee so it can reconfigure the Land Use Ordinance and bring it before voters in November.

Former Land Use Committee members Dennis Creaser, Bruce Sargent, Jacalyn Lynch, David Shaw, Franca Ainsworth, Cynthia Burmeister and Robert Ripley all agreed to serve again. They were reappointed for a three-month period in a 4-0 vote. Selectman Janet Jamison had to leave the meeting early and did not vote.

Selectmen also gave the committee the charge “to review the rural lot requirements and bring them in line with the Comprehensive Plan,” because the two documents are intertwined.

In June, voters approved the amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, making residential rural lot sizes a minimum of one acre with 150 feet of roadside frontage in a vote of 198-111. Previously, the dimensions in the Comprehensive Plan required a minimum of two acres and 250 feet of roadside frontage, which was favored by people wanting to keep the town’s rural character. Others, including large land owners, championed a smaller lot size of half an acre with 100 feet of roadside frontage. The amendment approved at town meeting was a compromise between the two groups.

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Before the Land Use Ordinance, which is still in draft form, could be brought before voters, the 2007 Comprehensive Plan had to be changed so the two documents could jive, Town Manager Amy Bernard previously said.

Board of Selectmen Chairman Robert Wessels thanked the three committee members who were in the audience Monday night — Creaser, Ainsworth and Sargent — for serving the town again.